Israeli settler violence has “skyrocketed” in the West Bank as extremists once again disrupt the economically-crucial olive harvest in Palestinian communities, a United Nations official said on Tuesday.
Just two weeks into this year’s olive harvest, armed Israeli settlers have burned olive groves, chainsawed trees, destroyed homes and agricultural infrastructure, and attacked Palestinian men, women and children, Ajith Sunghay, the Head of the UN’s Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told reporters from Ramallah.